Classical Net - Carl Orff - Who wrote the music of Carmina Burana? Carmina Burana Lyrics Who wrote the music? Carl Orff was born in Munich on the 10th July, 1895 (and died on March 29, 1982 at the age of 87) and was an educationalist as well as a composer. The location of Carl Orff's grave is Andechs Monastery (see ). 1995 is the centenary of Orff's birth, so there will sure to be many performances of Carmina Burana staged this year around the world. Sydney had a performance at the Opera House in late January, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras and in Canberra (Australia's capital) an open air performance is planned for March. Details from Bill Alford: "The Canberra performance may even rival the original performance because it won't have the confines of a theatre but acoustics may be a problem. I believe that the final scene is going to be quite some conflagration. There is going to be something like 500 performers.

The blurb for this shows a scene similar to the original performance going up in fire." Orff wrote a secular cantata, titled "Carmina Burana" based on the poems from the manuscript, but did not use any of the original melodies. The poems comprise religious, political, moral, erotic, Bacchic and Satirical verses. When Orff discovered the Carmina Burana for himself, the poems changed his entire career. He was past forty years old and more prominent in his native Munich as a music educator than a composer. In writing Carmina Burana, he found his own, unmistakable style. His work contains driving rhythms and exultant hedonism, and brought him to wide attention in the musical world. Orff was a devout active Roman Catholic and included bells in "Ave formosissima" (Song 24). One wonders if the Roman Catholic Church would have officially endorsed Carl Orff's works, particularly Carmina Burana.

The Lasting Appeal of Orff's 'Carmina Burana' : NPR The Lasting Appeal of Orff's 'Carmina Burana' Embed Embed The Lasting Appeal of Orff's 'Carmina Burana' The Lasting Appeal of Orff's 'Carmina Burana' Embed Embed Carl Orff's 1937 composition Carmina Burana remains one of the most popular pieces of the classical music repertoire. Conductor Marin Alsop and Scott Simon discuss why so many artists have performed the piece. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") LYNN NEARY, host: Carmina Burana ranks up there with Beethoven's Fifth as a perennial favorite among concert-goers. But Carl Orff's famous piece has inspired countless others to produce their own versions, from the death metal group Therion to rappers Naz and Puff Daddy. (Soundbite of song "Hate Me Now") PUFF DADDY (Rapper): You can hate me now. But I won't stop now. Cause I can't stop now... NEARY: To the electronica artist SUB.

(Soundbite of SUB recording) NEARY: Conductor Marin Alsop has a new recording of Carmina Burana with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on the Naxos label. Maestro Alsop takes over as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra next year. Earlier, she spoke with Scott Simon about this music. SCOTT SIMON, host: Are there signatures from Carmina Burana that pop up in music over the years? Ms. MARIN ALSOP (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra): This has to be probably the best-known 20th century piece, because it's been excerpted to sell everything from cars to aftershave. It's amazing what kind of associations people make for this piece. And actually, something I love to do is, you know, go around and play the opening - the 'O Fortuna - for people, and see what image it evokes. Because I think some people would see themselves, you know, driving in a certain brand of car, where others would see themselves, you know, putting on a certain type of lingerie. Who knows? SIMON: How would you describe this piece, Carmina Burana? Ms. ALSOP: It's a spectacle.

It's very hard to categorize, and that was Orff's the intent, really. He wanted it to be a piece for all of the senses: to hear the voice, to hear the words, to experience this enormous orchestra, two pianos. And also, it was envisioned to have a dance element and a theater element as well. SIMON: Let's listen, if we could, to the opening section, 'O Fortuna. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") SIMON: How does this set the scene for what follows? Ms. ALSOP: Well, the enormity of this opening is so spectacular. Isn't it? And it's all about fate and fortune and how that impacts our lives, and also the hushed quality after this enormous opening. You know, suddenly, let me tell you a secret. Come closer. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") SIMON: The poems were discovered in an abbey near Munich in the early part of the 20th century. They were written by defrocked monk and minstrels, I'm told. Yeah. Ms. ALSOP: There's a little bit of a controversy about who actually wrote the body of these poems.

It might have been some young people studying, about to go into the monastery, and I think from the text one could definitely get that sense, because so much of the text deals with the things that they are about to give up - you know, lust and drinking and all the really incredibly good things in life that they're about to give up. So I think that makes a lot of sense to me. SIMON: The work is divided into three parts, titled Spring, In the Tavern, and Love. Ms. ALSOP: Everything that's important in life is in this piece. There you go. SIMON: Some of the songs are a little colorful, even by today's standards. Ms. Alsop: Yes. I would say colorful, but of course, you know, when things are in Latin, the X-rated element almost gets elevated to a new level. SIMON: Yes. Ms. ALSOP: If I could put all of my swearing in Latin, I think that would definitely elevate my life. SIMON: There are paeans in this work to the tavern life. Ms. ALSOP: I think the word excess probably captures this piece.

And I think that again draws people in, because there's something about talking about the excesses in life and the edges that is very appealing. SIMON: Let's listen if we could. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") SIMON: For those of us who have not been to the abbey, what is he saying, Maestro? Ms. ALSOP: Estuans interius - that translates into burning inside. So that just gives you a little burning inside with violent anger, you know, and this is all about - yeah, it's really hard to talk about on the radio, I must say. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") Ms. ALSOP: One of the spectacular dimensions to Carmina Burana is these amazing solos, you know, for the baritone, who's this hunky kind of masculine guy that you just heard. And then we have the tenor, who depicts the swan on a spit. You know, his dying days. And so the range for the tenor is enormously high in a falsetto voice. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") Ms. ALSOP: And then there's a gorgeous soprano who sings higher than one thinks possible.

So again, it's about extremes and excess. SIMON: In other words, you don't want to say that she sings high, but the dogs in the audience are driven wild by that performance. Ms. ALSOP: It's sort of on the edge of dogland. It's almost leaping from a complete standstill to the top of a building. That's what she has to do, and it's spectacular. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") Ms. ALSOP: The words to Dulcissime - sweetest one I give myself to you totally. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") SIMON: Was Orff influenced by the works of any other composers? Ms. ALSOP: He's combining so many different stylistic elements. I mean we hear Stravinsky in it in these cross rhythms and when the two pianos get going. And at the same time we can hear really the monks in the monastery - elements of Gregorian chant. And so there's so many different varieties of music, musical styles that come into play, I think that's actually what gives it part of its appeal, because it's got something for everyone.

SIMON: Let me ask you about a section called Veni, Veni. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") Ms. ALSOP: You hear in this piece the Stravinsky rhythms, and this idea of using two pianos is quite unusual and... SIMON: Now, they sound like they're trying to convince somebody of something. Ms. ALSOP: Yes. Well, I mean the literal translation, veni, veni, venias - come, come, oh come. So it's all about enticement, and so I think it definitely is this trying to lure people in. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") SIMON: Carl Orff went from being known as a music educator to the composer of Carmina Burana. And although he wrote lots of other music, as I understand it, he is forever identified pretty much as the composer of Carmina Burana. But was that uncomfortable for him? Did he say, you know, I did write a few other things too? Ms. ALSOP: Well, it's this desire of the public to identify and really categorize people. Ironically he wrote several other Carmina-like pieces.

There are three of them in the trilogy, and the other two people don't know at all. So maybe that's going to be my - one of my goals to get people to know, to celebrate the three different Carminas. SIMON: Maestro, good to talk to you again. Ms. ALSOP: Great to be here. Thank you. NEARY: Maestro Marin Alsop, who takes over next year as conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, speaking with Scott Simon. This last song from Carmina Burana is a love song called In Triutina. For more on Carmina Burana, visit our Web site at npr.org. (Soundbite of "Carmina Burana") Copyright © 2006 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc. , an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Love, Lust and Drinking Stir 'Carmina' Hear Alsop discuss Orff on Weekend Edition Saturday Toggle more options Embed Embed Carmina Burana Carmina Burana 24. Ave formosissima The Carmina Burana of Carl Orff The poems presented here are those which have been set to music by the German composer Carl Orff (1895-1982). They form only a small part of the whole Carmina Burana, the name applied to a large collection of medieval poems which survive in a late medieval manuscript found in the early nineteenth century in southern Germany. These poems, which come to more than two hundred in number but are never of any great length, can be roughly classified as follows: (i) Moralistic and satirical poems, the former being concerned with the human condition and the world at large, the latter with abuses in the church. (ii) Love songs and songs celebrating the return of spring. (iii) Songs connected with drinking and gambling. Most of the poems seem to have been intended to be sung. The main language is Latin; a few are in German or are macaronic, i.e. mixtures of Latin and a vernacular (here either German or French).

The manuscript has a type of musical notation, which is not followed by Orff but which has been used by others to reconstruct the original presentation. No poem is assigned to an author. A remarkable feature of the intellectual life of the late Middle Ages was the ease and readiness with which scholars and students (and no doubt a good many hangers-on) moved about Europe from one university town to another. There seems to have always been a large number of such people in temporary residence in university towns both in their native countries and in foreign parts. As might be expected, they were not always on good terms with locals who had no connection with, or interest in, intellectual pursuits (such rustici are a frequent butt in the Carmina Burana) and, as their common interests naturally brought them together, they tended to form a class apart, a society to which the terms Wandering Scholars and Ordo Vagorum have been applied. These it was who in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries composed and sung most of the poems of Carmina Burana.

Because they were generally without bonds or ties and were not involved in acquiring or maintaining social status, they were not concerned overmuch with the conventions of society, nor were they greatly troubled by the fulminations of religion against worldly pleasures. The Carmina Burana show attitudes not usually associated with the Middle Ages; we see a quite amoral attitude to sex, a fresh appreciation of nature, and a disrespect of the established church which even today's society would find hard to tolerate. The Wandering Scholars were very much concerned with enjoying themselves, they were frank and uninhibited, and were not afraid of attacking or ridiculing people and institutions they did not like. Their poetry was written for the immediate present, to express an emotion or experience, to complain of some current abuse, but chiefly, one may conjecture, to entertain their fellows as they caroused. At its best it has spontaneity and freshness which compensate for its limited range and technique. Most poems are in Latin because this, as the established language of instruction and scholarship, was the lingua franca of the Vagantes and was used by them even in lighter moods; the vernacular languages were not yet properly established as vehicles for sophisticated literary expressions.

We must, however, always remember that the Carmina Burana were written by people for whom Latin was an acquired language. All too often we find a vague wordiness (the first poem is the worst offender in our selection) and sometimes an outright misuse of words which must have been difficult for even a contemporary to understand. Because the Latin texts given below are intended for those studying the classical language, the normal spelling used for classical Latin has been adopted. The recordings of Orff's selection follow medieval pronunciation to a large extent, and the following should be noted: Classical Latin ae and oe are both pronounced as e ti when preceded by a vowel is pronounced as tzi, e.g. saevitia becomes sevitzia c is pronounce as ch before e and i, e.g. ocellis becomes ochellis No distinction is made between the long and short vowels of the classical language The Carmina Burana are not written in metres of Classical Latin poetry, which consisted of different arrangements of long and short syllables. Instead, we have stanzas where lines are rhymed according to various patterns. The rhythm of individual lines is determined by word accent. The similarity with certain traditional forms of English poetry is striking.

--------------------- Orff's composition consists of twenty-five parts. The sixth and the twenty-fifth are not give here as the former is a dance without words and the latter is a repetition of the first song. For those who are not already acquainted with Orff's Carmina Burana, many recordings are available. The Story Of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana | Orff - Classic FM Classic FM Become a VIP The Story Of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana Carl Orff ’s Carmina Burana is probably the most frequently performed choral work of the 21st century, made popular by the memorable surfing advert for Old Spice aftershave. But have you ever wondered where its familiar title comes from? The name has Latin roots – “Carmina” means “songs”, while “Burana” is the Latinised form of Beuren, the name of the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuren in Bavaria.

So, “Carmina Burana” translates as “Songs Of Beuren”, and refers to a collection of early 13th-century songs and poems that was discovered in Beuren in 1803 – although it has since been established that the collection originated from Seckau Abbey, Austria – and is now housed in the Bavarian State Library. The songs (over 1000 of them) were written in a mix of Latin, German and medieval French by the Goliards, a band of poet-musicians comprising scholars and clerical students, who celebrated with earthy humour the joys of the tavern, nature, love and lust. Although Orff set the original texts, he chose not to use the primitive musical notation that accompanied some of the songs. The collection was first published in Germany in 1847, but it wasn’t until 1934 that Orff came across the texts; a selection had been translated into English and formed part of a publication called Wine, Women And Song. With the help of Michael Hofmann, a law student and Latin scholar, Orff chose 24 songs and set them to music in what he termed a “scenic cantata”.

Carmina Burana is divided into three sections – Springtime, In the Tavern and The Court Of Love – preceded by and ending with an invocation to Fortune. Written between 1935 and 1936 for soloists, choruses and orchestra, it was originally conceived as a choreographed stage work. It was in this form that it was first heard on June 8, 1937, in Frankfurt, under its full title Carmina Burana: Cantiones Profanae Cantoribus Et Choris Cantandae Comitantibus Instrumentis Atque Imaginibus Magicis (Songs Of Beuren: Secular Songs For Singers And Choruses To Be Sung Together With Instruments And Magic Images). After the triumphant premiere of Carmina Burana, Orff, then 41, wrote to his publishers: “Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, published, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana my collected works begin.” However, nothing Orff subsequently wrote ever came close to approaching the popularity of Carmina Burana.

Hear it on Deutsche Opera Chorus & Orchestra/Jochum Although there are many good modern alternatives, the classic account that triumphantly stands the test of time was recorded in the presence of the composer in 1968, and features soloists Gundula Janowitz, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerhard Stolze (DG 447 4372). Did you know? Orff’s masterpiece greatly appealed to the Nazi regime, to whom its rhythms, as one critic put it, were reminiscent of the “stamping columns of the Third Reich”. When Carmina Burana was first performed at La Scala, in 1942, it was as a showpiece for fascist values. Carl Orff | German composer | Britannica.com German composer Carl Orff, (born July 10, 1895, Munich , Germany —died March 29, 1982, Munich), German composer known particularly for his operas and dramatic works and for his innovations in music education. Carl Orff.

© Fidula Publishing House, Boppard, Germany Orff studied at the Munich Academy of Music and with the German composer Heinrich Kaminski and later conducted in Munich, Mannheim , and Darmstadt . His Schulwerk, a manual describing his method of conducting, was first published in 1930. Orff edited some 17th-century operas and in 1937 produced his secular oratorio Carmina Burana . Intended to be staged with dance, it was based on a manuscript of medieval poems. This work led to others inspired by Greek theatre and by medieval mystery plays, notably Catulli carmina (1943; Songs of Catullus) and Trionfo di Afrodite (1953; The Triumph of Aphrodite), which form a trilogy with Carmina Burana.

His other works include an Easter cantata , Comoedia de Christi Resurrectione (1956); a nativity play, Ludus de nato infante mirificus (1960); and a trilogy of “music dramas”—Antigonae (1949), Oedipus der Tyrann (1959), and Prometheus (1966). Orff’s system of music education for children, largely based on developing a sense of rhythm through group exercise and performance with percussion instruments, has been widely adopted. In 1924 in Munich he founded, with the German gymnast Dorothee Günther, the Günther School for gymnastics, dance, and music. Learn More in these related articles: Carmina Burana - Carl Orff - YouTube Carmina Burana - Carl Orff Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later.

Published on Aug 21, 2013 Carl Orff, (1895-1982), born in Münich, Germany, was a multi-faceted musician and prolific composer known particularly for his operas and dramatic works and for his innovations in music education. He enjoyed international renown as the world's pre-eminent authority on children's music education, his life's work in that area represented by Musik für Kinder (Music for children), five eclectic collections of music to be performed by children, eventually developing into a more extensive series known as Orff Schulwerk, a manual describing his method of conducting, which was first published in 1930. Orff's system of music education for children, largely based on developing a sense of rhythm through group exercise and performance with percussion instruments, has been widely adopted. In 1924 in Münich he founded, with the German gymnast Dorothee Günther, the Günther School for gymnastics, dance, and music. The following year, Orff made three stage adaptations of works by Monteverdi.

Continuing his work in the area of Baroque music, Orff became conductor of the Münich Bach society in 1930, a position he held until 1933. The experience of performing Baroque music, particularly sacred works for the stage, convinced Orff that an effective musical performance must fuse music, words and movement, a goal no doubt partly inspired by his work with the Güntherschule. Orff embodied his conception of music in the fabulously successful secular oratorio Carmina Burana (1937), which in many ways defined him as a composer. Based on an important collection of Latin and German Goliard poems found in the monastery of Benediktbeuern - one of the oldest Benedictine Monasteries in Bavaria - this work exemplifies Orff's search for an idiom that would reveal the elemental power of music, allowing the listener to experience music as a overwhelming, primitive force. Goliard poetry, which not only celebrates love and wine, but also pokes fun at the clergy, perfectly suited Orff's desire to create a musical work appealing to a fundamental musicality that, as he believed, every human being possesses.

Eschewing melodic development and harmonic complexity, and articulating his musical ideas through basic sonorities and easily discernible rhythmic patterns, Orff created an idiom which many found irresistible. The perceived "primitivism" of Carmina burana notwithstanding, Orff believed that the profound appeal of music is not merely physical. This belief is reflected by many other works, including musical dramas based on Greek tragedies, namely, Antigonae (1949), Oedipus der Tyrann (1959), and Prometheus (1966). These works, as well as some compositions on Christian themes, followed the composer's established dramatic and compositional techniques, but failed to repeat the tremendous success of Carmina Burana. His last work, De temporum fine comoedia (A Comedy about the End of Time) premiered at the 1973 Salzburg Festival. Nine years later, Carl Orff died in Münich, where he had spent his entire life.

Carmina Burana: Fortuna Imperatrix mundi Performed by the Münchner Rundfunkorchester and Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunk Kurt Peter Eichhorn, Conductor Orff - Carmina Burana - Utah Symphony Orff - Carmina Burana Email Carl Orff (1895 – 1982): Carmina Burana Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2nd and 3rd doubling piccolo, 3 oboes,3rd doubling English horn, 3 clarinets, 3rd doubling bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon; 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba; timpani, antique cymbals, bass drum, campane, cass chiare, castanets, chimes, crash symbal, gloskenspiel, ragenlla, sonagliera, suspended cymbal, tam tam, tamburo, basco, triangle, xylophone, piano, celeste, strings Performance time: 1 hour Background At least in part, classical musicians are known by the advocates they keep.

For German composers of the 20th century including Carl Orff, the matter of public reputation is complicated by an inescapable question: What did you do during World War II? Carl Orff, an elemental musical talent who wrote operas and was an influential music educator, is remembered mainly for his amazing, tradition-busting oratorio Carmina Burana, which hit the music world like a thunderbolt. It is a work of exuberance and joy that is enduringly popular and widely copied. But Orff’s music had the misfortune of being popular with bureaucrats of the Third Reich, a fact that cast a shadow over his reputation here until American investigators found no reason to believe he held Nazi sympathies. Born in Munich to a distinguished Bavarian military family in 1895, Orff grew up steeped in German cultural traditions and demonstrated his musical talent early; at a young age he learned to play the piano, organ and cello and composed songs. He graduated from the Munich Academy of Music when he was 18 with a portfolio of early compositions that showed the influence of Debussy's innovations. He then turned to the more Viennese experiments of Schoenberg, Strauss and Pfitzner.

But the year of his graduation was 1914, and Orff was coming of age in the shadow of World War I. Jobs as Kapellmeister at the Munich Kammerspiele and at theaters in Darmstadt and Mannheim honed his gifts in performance practice and music drama. In 1917 and 1918, as the war drew to a close, Orff was in his early 20s and was engaged in military service. The development of Carmina Burana wove together all the main threads of Orff's early creative life: his gift for theatrical spectacle, his scholarly interest in medieval forms, and the return to musical innocence of his work in music education with Dorothee Günther (whom he eventually married). The oratorio's texts are the result of sympathetic work by an earlier scholar: a collection lyrics dating from the 12th and 13th centuries discovered at a monastery in Upper Bavaria by the musicologist J.A. Schmeller in 1847. Schmeller applied title Carmina Burana, referencing both the monastic order and the region of upper Bavaria where they were found.

The obscure verses were mostly in Latin with some in early forms of German and even a bit of early French, but their content was about as far from academic dryness as you can get: these were lusty verses that celebrate the pleasures of loving and drinking, and that comment with ribald frankness on the vicissitudes of everyday life. Orff selected 24 of them for Carmina Burana. Written at a time when the church had a near-monopoly on music and poetry, these rambunctious verses pushed the boundaries of acceptable artistic expression in the Middle Ages. They were produced by poets including defrocked priests and minnesingers who counterbalanced the austerity of religious tradition with the earthiness of the here and now. Their humor can seem startlingly modern today. What to Listen For The boisterous energy and all-consuming rhythms of Carmina Burana make hearing it a physical experience as much as an artistic one. And who ever said classical music could be this much fun?

(In fact, it was the irresistible sweep and popular appeal of this music that made it of particular interest to the Reich, which had repudiated many modern composers and musicians as “degenerate.”) Billed as a "scenic oratorio," Carmina Burana originally incorporated costumes for its vocalists as well as an elaborate set. This was a production concept that Orff intended for his subsequent oratorios as well, though his compositions rarely include these elements today. To analysts such as Hanspeter Krellmann and John Horton, this visual spectacle comports with Orff's aural spectacle: driving, emphatic rhythms, gleaming orchestration and declarative intensity of musical utterance. Often startlingly explicit, the lyrics of Carmina Burana have at various times been strategically condensed and expurgated. Sexy descriptions, such as one lover's removal of another's underwear, share time with raunchy double entendres, such as the description of a knight's lance rising at the sight of his lady. As is so often the case, censorship has accomplished less than nothing to desensitize these passages, only adding to their fascination.

The music, for its part, is not just brazen in shoving the poetry's sensuality in our faces; it does so with glee, making everything it touches seem innocent. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the "In taberna" chorale (In the Tavern), a drinking song that describes the raucous behavior in a local tavern where everyone is present, accounted for, and drinking lustily — the bumpkin, the sage, the pauper, the sick man, the bishop and the deacon, the old woman and the mother among them. The music proceeds with a naive, bouncy double-rhythm that acquires the momentum of an avalanche. Proceeding through sections on springtime, drinking and love, Carmina Burana forms a perfect arch, ending where it began — addressing "Fortune, Empress of the World" and complaining melodramatically about her fickleness. But if fortune is indifferent to merit, at least it has spared Orff's most celebrated composition — a work that has become, with Handel's Messiah, one of the most widely performed oratorios ever written.

Orff - definition of Orff by The Free Dictionary Orff - definition of Orff by The Free Dictionary Orff (ôrf), Carl 1895-1982. German composer noted for the secular cantata Carmina Burana (1936) and for his development of a system of music education for children. Orff (ɔːf) n (Biography) Carl (karl). 1895–1982, German composer. His works include the secular oratorio Carmina Burana (1937) and the opera Antigone (1949) Orff Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: Orff Carl References in periodicals archive ? In order for [languages] teachers to use Orff principles in the classroom, they do not need to be musical. Accompanists shine as soloists disappoint; CONCERT Carmina Burana, Tracey/ Philharmonic Hall ....

Er hat in seinem Buch wichtige Beitrage der letzten Jahrzehnte von Carl Orff, von Michel Hofmann, vom Sprachwissen--schaftler Werner Thomas, vom Altphilologen Wolfgang Schadewaldt und vom ehemaligen Generalintendanten der Deutschen Oper Berlin Gustav Rudolf Sellner und anderen zusammengestellt, in denen die Carmina Burana--Weltliche Gesange fur Soli und Chor mit Begleitung von Instrumenten und mit Bildern untersucht werden. The O2 Launches Monumental Classics Series Anyway, the Orff work is just the most-familiar item on the disc; the album also contains a small-scale chamber piece, Arthur Bird's Serenade for Wind Instruments (1898), which is quite charming, if forgettable; and Herbert Owen Reed's La Fiesta Mexicana (1954), a wonderfully varied and robust piece of music that has a little something in it for everybody, including a striking opening movement with trumpets and simulated fireworks.

Orff: Carmina Burana Suite; Bird: Serenade; Reed: La Fiesta Mexicana The landscape architects included Ken Smith, designer of the rooftop garden at the Museum of Modern Art and the elevated plaza at 55 Water Street; Ricardo Scofidio, designer of the High Line and the redevelopment of Lincoln Center; Matthew Urbanski, designer of Brooklyn Bridge Park; Margie Ruddick, designer of improvements to Queens Plaza and a master plan for downtown Trenton; Kate Orff, a principal at SCAPE Studio and a prot6g6 of Rem Koolhaas; and Brian Jencek, a principal at Hargreaves Associates. Carmina Burana Running Time | Primitive, passionate 'Carmina Burana' At once solemn and sexy, Carl Orff's bold, brute cantata with medieval texts both delights the ear and rouses the body. - tribunedigital-baltimoresun Primitive, passionate 'Carmina Burana' At once solemn and sexy, Carl Orff's bold, brute cantata with medieval texts both delights the ear and rouses the body.

May 10, 1998|By Judith Green | Judith Green,SPECIAL TO THE SUN Carl Orff did not call "Carmina Burana" an opera or a choral symphony or an oratorio or a song cycle. He called it a "scenic cantata" - a clue, says Tom Hall, music director of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, that he intended it for the theater, not the concert hall. Choral Arts' production of "Carmina" grants the composer's wish. Co-conceived with the Kimberly Mackin Dance Company, the production offers a "Carmina" for the eyes as well as the ears, the senses as well as the spirit. First performed by Choral Arts to a sold-out house in 1995 at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, "Carmina" will be revived May 17-20 for four performances at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts in Owings Mills. And its early curtain (7:30 p.m.) and one-hour running time make it perfect for children, even on school nights. Orff's popular cantata is based on poetry and graffiti found among the manuscripts - dating from A.D.

1280, published in 1847 - in the Benedictine monastery in Beuren, Bavaria. "Carmina Burana" means "Songs of Beuren." The anonymous writers were probably galliards: itinerant monks, students, unemployed scribes and unfrocked priests who wandered about the Frankish and Saxon countryside in the tumultuous Middle Ages, when plague, war, famine and crusades uprooted populations and sent them searching for places to resettle. The texts, written in Latin, Old French and Middle German, deal with common preoccupations of the young: love and sex, food and drink, fun and folly. Orff and two collaborators, Michel Hofmann and Wolfgang Schadewaldt, organized these marginalia into a three-part paean to the delights of the flesh. The cantata is framed and solemnized by the stern hymn "Fortuna imperatrix mundi" ("Fortune, empress of the world"), which is actually about the implacability of fate and the eventuality of death. Since its first production in 1937 at the Frankfurt Opera, which was choreographed by Inge Haertling, "Carmina" has been staged as often as not.

Mary Wigman, the German expressionist choreographer, staged it in 1943, and other notable dance settings have been made by Kurt Jooss, Heinz Rosen and Norman Walker. The most famous ballet version was made in 1959 for the New York City Opera by John Butler. Now that it's in the public domain, "Carmina" has found its way into the commercial world, including the soundtrack to John Boorman's film "Excalibur," where the implacable rhythm of "Fortuna imperatrix mundi" accompanies the combat of knights on horseback in Arthurian England. Orff (1895-1982) was a noted German music educator whose Orff-Schulwerk system of specially designed rhythm instruments and musical exercises for children are used around the world today. As a composer, he was dissatisfied with the methods found by other 20th-century musicians to the problems of writing contemporary music. Rather than the atonal harmonies of Arnold Schoenberg or the folk-based complexity of Bela Bartok, he espoused a return to primitivism.

The materials of "Carmina" are very basic: bold rhythms, brute repetition and texts that pile verse upon verse and sound upon sound until the poem can bear no more. When he published "Carmina" at the age of 42, Orff withdrew all his previous works from the catalogue of his publisher, believing that he would be judged by history on this work alone. He was right. "Carmina" is the first part of a "Trionfi-Tryptichon" ("Triumph Tryptich") that includes "Catulli Carmina" ("Songs of Catullus") (1943) and "Trionfo di Afrodite" ("Triumph of Aphrodite") (1950); but neither these, nor anything else he wrote, comes close to it. The 100-voice Choral Arts Society will perform "Carmina" with the 70-member senior ensemble of the Children's Chorus of Maryland and the two-piano/percussion reduction Orff wrote in 1955, to make the work possible for choirs who could not afford an orchestra. Pianists Eric Conway and Maurice Murphy will be joined by a squad of five percussionists.

"They fit into the pit quite neatly, and they make a full complement of noise," Hall says. "This is a piece where the rhythm is first and all else comes after. If anything, the two pianos and percussion make the sound more raw, more visceral." When the choir sang this work in 1995, "it was wild," Hall says. "There were people standing outside Meyerhoff with hand-lettered signs saying 'NEED 2 TICKETS.' I had a call at home one night from a guy who said: 'Remember me? We played in a tennis tournament together in 1986, and can you get me some tickets? I'll pay double.'" The Gordon Center, a charming 550-seat theater in a wooded area of Owings Mills, should be an even better venue, Hall believes. "If they enjoyed seeing it from the center terrace in Meyerhoff, 200 yards away from the stage, they should like it even better here. "Plus, we're gonna blow the roof off." 'Carmina Burana' Who: Choral Arts Society, Children's Chorus of Maryland, Kimberly Mackin Dancers When: 3 p.m.

May 17; 7:30 p.m. May 18-20 Where: Gordon Center for Performing Arts, 3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., Owings Mills Tickets: $9 Sunday,

Question: Who composed the oratorio Carmina Burana?
Answer: CARL ORFF